From the Rubble to the Rock
by Air-Quiet-Reader
Summary: Tonnes of rubble. Hundreds of injured people in need of rescue. Far too many dead before she could even get there. Not exactly what Ochako had in mind for her first day as a fully professional hero. But despite the horror of it all, there's always someone she can count on to lift her back up again.


The fog of childhood naivety had long since faded from Ochako's bright eyes. Time and experience had taught her a grim truth; there was often no glory in the moment of saving someone's life.

There was only the adrenaline; the visceral pulsing of her blood as she furiously rushed to get back and save the next person. She ignored the air filled with choking dust, sprung from massive mounds of rubble. She found a way to disregard the massive, mangled subway train and the bloody stench of death that filled her nostrils.

This was not exactly what she had imagined for the first day as a professional hero.

Fortunately, Ochako's abilities made her task relatively straightforward. She was to lift rubble out of the way and act as a midway point for the citizens being pulled out of the collapsed tunnel by her teammates. It may have once been impossible, but years of training her gravity manipulation quirk had made her more than capable of handling the tonnes of debris she was asked to clear away.

Not that this made her feel any better at seeing all the injured people make their way up and out of the tunnel. Nor about the dozens, if not hundreds, who would never make it out. Mercifully, she was spared the worst of that grim sight from her superiors. But she had still dealt with the heart wrench of the odd lifeless body buried in the rock, unresponsive to her cries and shakes.

But she could not spare much time for the dead. Not when there were still lives to save.

"Than...than...thank you so...so much!" panted a middle-aged man as she quickly helped him climb up, lifting him several feet upward as if he were a feather.

"You're quite welcome!" she gave him a gentle, comforting smile — the best she could muster in the circumstances. One that disguised her quivering heart and queasy stomach. Stretching her muscles into the grin almost physically hurt. But it's what a hero had to do. "Quickly, head over this way."

It was 14 hours of gruelling work for Ochako as she pushed herself to the very limits of her quirk. Eventually, the scene was stabilized, although there would still be more work for her to do the next stay clearing out the rest of rubble and helping to start repair efforts. All in all, 68 people died from the subway tunnel collapsing — the work of a gigantic villain who couldn't control his impact as he tried to escape a crime scene. He was quickly subdued and in custody, but the damage was done.

"Well done out there today, Uravity." The voice of her boss, Ryukyu, sounded from behind her as she panted and caught her breath. "Why don't you call it a day? You've earned it. The police should be able to handle most of it from here."

"Yeah...I guess…" Ochako panted, no longer able to disguise the misery and exhaustion in her voice. She grimaced at the aches and pains throughout her body, finally feeling safe enough to remove the mask of her false smile.

She had encountered this type of tragedy before, of course. Her school years were quite tumultuous. Her teachers taught her that heroes had to get used to this after a while to keep level-headed over the long term. She often doubted whether she could.

Ochako found herself lamenting that her first full day on the job after graduating had ended up like this. She expected a casual day patrolling out of Ryukyu's office, or a mountain of paperwork nobody else wanted. Something light, followed by a pleasant rest. A disaster was more exciting but the cost was far too great.

A claw-like grip sunk into her shoulder, causing Ochako's skin to prickle as she jumped slightly, thoroughly snapped out of her thoughts.

"Go home," Ryukyu ordered. Her mentor usually led with a soft hand but when she got serious, there was no room for arguing. "Relax. Hug your boyfriend. Get some rest."

"Righ...right," Ochako replied, standing up straighter and nodding to her superior, her cheeks just a bit rosier. "Thank you, Ryukyu."

"Don't mention it," her master said before the heroine walked away to leave her wallowing in her discontent.

Ochako closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to steady herself. She reached into a small carrying pouch affixed to her belt — an added bit of practicality to her costume compared to her younger days — and yanked out her phone.

An image of herself and Izuku appeared on the screen, cheeks pressed against each other and beaming at the camera. She managed a genuine smile at the day-old screensaver; a commemoration of their moving in together.

But her eyes glanced to the time — 10:42 p.m. — and her mouth set into a hard line again. She had really wanted a normal shift today. She had plans to have a nice meal with Izuku and try to get more unpacking done after moving into their new apartment the previous night. So much for that.

Groaning, Ochako de-weighed herself and leapt up into the starry sky towards home.

As she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, trying to ignore the stinging of her sore legs, she found herself struggling to push the day's events from her head. Having to reign her emotions in had taken its toll and her mind felt frayed as the tragic images flew about.

The cries for help when they first arrived on scene. The bloodied bodies within the rubble. The rocks upon rocks rolling around her. The little girl, not knowing where her parents were but trying to carry on regardless…

Ochako tried to swallow her sadness and focus more on her movements. She would be home soon. She would be with Deku. She could hold it in until then.

When she finally entered their small apartment — the journey blurring as exhaustion continued to creep into her — she found it to be surprisingly dark. Instinctively, she chose not to call out into the cold shadows, in case Deku had decided to head to bed early. There was no telling what he might have gotten up to on their first day.

But as she stepped into their dining room, her heart warmed at the sight.

There was nothing in the world more adorable to her than Izuku while he was hero in question slept soundly, sitting hunched over their small dining table, breathing into the half-empty plate in front of him. The flickers of light from a melting candle added an almost mystic aura to his peaceful features, with the rest of the room shrouded in shadow around him. The distant sound of the droning television was all she could hear in the quiet night. Through the small source of light, she could see her boyfriend had laid out a meal for her as well, cooking and preparing for her arrival.

A smile brightened her face in the darkness.

She stepped closer to get a better peek at his face. In his sleep, his sharp features softened to resemble something a little closer to how he looked when they first met. His expression was blank, not caught between creases of worry nor booms of laughter. His rest was a hard-earned peace, one that never failed to make her happy.

It was, unfortunately, short-lived. He stirred at her transgressions, his ears perking up in receipt of her soft footfalls. His eyes slowly ground open to be greeted by her smiling face. But they quickly flashed wide as he blasted upward like lightning, sending his chair careening out of the way.

"Ochako!" he boomed with more force than needed, causing her to wince slightly. He caught on quickly, approaching her with a light step and grasping her hands gently.

"The news was everywhere all day. How are you holding up? You must be so exhausted. Sorry, I fell asleep. I..uh..I made dinner, it's a little cold but we can —"

She squeezed the rant out of him with a warm hug as she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder.

"I'll be okay. I think," she murmured into his neck, relishing in the warmth of his arms. She let it seep into her skin, breathing in his presence. She needed this, more than anything, right now. "Just give me a little bit."

"Of course," he replied without hesitation. "Take all the time you need."

She closed her eyes and let the waves of the comfort of his arms wash over her. She didn't have to hold back any tears. The images of the day flashed again through her mind, crashing against the ease brought to her by her partner.

"You helped so many people. You did so much. It'll be okay."

She knew it would be, eventually. Because he would always lift her back up again.

* * *

"I'm not sure how we're going to get it all cleared tomorrow," Ochako ranted between bites, her stomach growingly furiously in a mixture of rage and relief. "There's _so_ much to do still."

"I'm sure you can manage it," Deku reassured her, taking occasional bites of his own meal with significantly less vigour.

After letting out her torrent of exhaustion and misery, the words flowed easily out of her. It was refreshing, being able to talk about her day with him to his face, rather than through a phone. She was sure it would be one of the better perks of living together.

"I just wish I didn't _have_ to manage it. It was...it was a little much for a first day."

"Occupational hazard, I suppose," Deku replied gently, reaching out to grasp her loose hand and squeezing. "But you did great out there. I kept my eyes glued to the news after I got back; you all got so much done. And you looked really heroic out there!"

"Well that's good I...wait, I was on the news?!" Her mind reeled backwards at what that could mean for her — or whether she had come off well enough. She flushed at the thought of a news camera catching her looking dishevelled and miserable while she moved rocks around.

"Yeah, they got you just as you pulled out a little girl and walked her over to the medical tent," Izuku replied, smiling in reassurance. "It was a pretty timely moment. You were really courageous!"

Her mind buzzed as she tried to contemplate the new information. She supposed the publicity could do some good for her hero career. Getting noticed and garnering fans was a huge part of getting a bigger paycheque. She could take it, even if being seen like that without knowing made her stomach churn a little bit.

"I guess that's alright," she spoke half-heartedly, before letting out a yawn. Her eyes were drooping and her head was getting fuzzy, but she wanted to keep up long enough to talk with him. "How was your first day?"

"Pretty uneventful, actually," he sighed while pinching at his chin — a mannerism that often foretold ranting, she knew. "Just some patrolling and stopping a common pickpocket. I tried to follow up with the updates from your scene as best as I could but got scolded for it. I know a hero has got to stay focused but...well…." his eyes looked into hers pointedly. "I wish I could have been there to help."

Her lips curled upward as she shook her head and managed a small laugh — an alien outburst on this day of firsts. Deku looked at her uneasily, not immediately seeing the humour of his own sentiment.

"You can't be everywhere at once, Mister Future Symbol of Peace," she reached over to place a soft hand on his arm. She could appreciate the muscle there, and the might hidden beneath the skin. The might that gave him the power to seemingly do anything.

But she knew he had his limits. Even if he didn't always acknowledge them.

"We had plenty of help already. You gotta do what you can where you are, you know?" Somehow, she managed to summon a hint of her bubbly demeanour, despite how exhausted she was.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Deku replied brightly, smiling at her. "It'll be a little while before I can start trying to hit multiple cities in a day. But I'll get there." His eyes shone with a fiery brilliance that always inspired her.

But she still groaned at his zealous efforts to try to work himself to death, planting her face on the table.

"I'm too tired to argue with you."

"Then let's get to bed," Izuku suggested, rubbing his eyes himself. "It's been a long day." She rolled her head into a nod, the softness of the mattress distantly calling to her aching joints.

She barely managed to get herself changed into her loose pyjamas before collapsing onto the bed. She blissfully breathed into the pillow and let her brain immediately start to drift into nothingness.

She was perturbed at being jolted by the weight of her companion but was already too far gone to complain. Izuku grabbed each of her hands, in turn, to kindly put on her sleeping gloves that kept her from floating in the night, something she had apparently forgotten.

"Thanks…" she murmured, sliding over to give him more room. One he laid down on his back, she quickly cuddled into his side, sighing happily at the familiar comfort of his presence.

This was the other biggest perk of living together for the first time. No more lonely nights. No more prying eyes. Every night, getting to snuggle with him. Life was going to get a lot more difficult, but if she could have this every time she got home, she could live with it.

"Sweet dreams," he breathed into her hair. "Let's hope day two is a little less tiring."

"Mmm..." was all she managed to vocalize before sleep overtook her. As bad as her first day may have been, her solace was always easy to find. 

* * *

Written for IzuOcha Week 2017 prompt Day 1: Firsts.

I'm back from the dead for a week full of fics! I promise they're not all as miserable as this one.

Please leave a favourite or a review if you enjoyed the story. They mean the world to me. =)


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